Earlier in the semester, John and I talked about an older engineering student who came into the Writing Center for help on his powerpoint presentation. I am not sure if you guys remember, but this man was not my favorite person--he was rude, pushy, and very opinionated. Quite honestly, he made me feel uncomfortable, but I wasn't so uncomfortable that I had to stop working with him. Rather, I just ignored his comments and let John take over the session a little bit more. But, what should we do when we are faced with a situation or person that makes us so uncomfortable that we can no longer tutor well? Do we ignore our guy reactions and keep tutoring? Do we ask someone else to take over? Or, do we ask them to leave?
I realize that this is a touchy subject because the Writing Center is open to everyone who needs help, but where do we draw the line. A good example of this comes from my undergraduate tutoring experience. There was this man, "Frank," who came into the Writing Center a lot. He was an adult learner, and it was obvious that he had some kind of learning disability, so his writing wasn't that well developed. Clearly, this man needed our help to improve his writing, but there were several cases when he was behaved innappropriately to female tutors. He never attacked anyone or anything like that, but he would make weird comments, ogle girls, and just get a little too "friendly." Even when he wasn't outwardly acting inappropriately, he sent off a weird vibe. I remember working with him once and just counting down the words until we finished working on his paper because I felt so uncomfortable.
Anyway, after several meetings with our coordinator, we decided that Frank shouldn't work with female tutors anymore because we were all so creeped out. Instead, Frank was assigned to a specific male tutor, who helped him whenever he needed it. Frank was no longer allowed in the writing center unless that specific tutor was there. Luckily in this case, things worked out, and we developed a good system. But what should we do in that initial confrontation, when our gut reaction is to get away from someone, and we feel uncomfortable? And what if that feeling occurs when we are alone in the Writing Center?
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From my perspective, although we want to offer help to everyone, we aren't obligated to continue to help people who act inappropriately. That said, if we can find a way to guide the so that we can help them, that would be optional. My first step would be to communicate with the person. "I'm sorry, but it makes me uncomfortable when you put your hand on my shoulder. Please don't. Thanks." Some times people just need a little help with their boundaries. My second approach would be similar to what you describe--find someone who isn't made uncomfortable, if that's possible, and limit the sessions to that person. Lastly, if neither of those work, I would take the step of telling the person we aren't able to help him. But I wouldn't have a tutor do that--I'd refer him to the director, so she can make that determination. More about this next week. (But I thought I should say at least something now.)
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